Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Which Of These Things Is Not Like The Other?

2002: A Palestinian refugee camp is targeted by the army because of terrorists within the camp, hiding among the civilian population. Instead of resorting to shelling or air bombing, which would cause indiscriminate casualties, the army goes house to house and through booby-trapped alleyways at great risk and suffering many losses. The world community is outraged, and claims are made of a"massacre",with thousands dead (and accepted at face value by the world media). Later investigation proves that the majority of the 57 Palestinians killed were combatants. The event that made the raid necessary, the mass murder of elderly citizens sitting down to a holiday meal in a hotel, goes essentially unnoticed in the rush to condemnation.

2006: Lebanese villages are targeted by the army because of a fanatical Islamic terrorist group that has taken over these villages and used them as human shields for launching of hundreds of missiles against civilians. This heavily armed group has refused to accept the authority of the government and operates outside of the law. The army responds with attacks attempting to deter the firing of the missiles. The world community is once again outraged, claims of "massacre" are again accepted at face value by the world media, despite photos showing purported victims standing up under their shrouds and other doctored photos published worldwide presenting the images of widespread bombing. The kidnapping of soldiers and the firing of rockets at towns that led to the counterattack once again go essentially unnoticed in the rush to condemnation.

2007: A Palestinian refugee camp is the target of indiscriminate shelling by the army, in its attempt to root out a band of fanatical Islamic terrorists. Civilians flee for their lives and condemn the terrorists. The Arab League itself blames the terrorists for threatening the country's security, safety and stability. However, the United Nations remains strangely silent and the world media have not run the blazing headlines about atrocities and massacres.

Could it possibly be that the world only cares about protecting terrorists if it's the Israeli army that's attacking them? The Arab League statement made it very clear why it can condemn Fatah al-Islam: the group "has no relation to the Palestinian question or Islam".

OK, NOW I get it! As long as the group is truly Islamic, or conducts terror operations on BEHALF of Palestinians, then it gets a free ride. Well, at least they're up front about their hypocrisy. Hezbollah doesn't have anything to worry about, at least from the Lebanese Army.

1 comment:

  1. great post. just last week i heard dennis bernstein on kpfa talking about the "massacre at jenin" like it was fact. he said learning about that was one of the first things that convinced him how evil israel was. it would be funny if it wasn't sad.
    i too have been wondering why lebanon is getting a free pass on doing something that israel is condemned for. the double standard goes on...

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